City of Barcelona hit by terror attack

August 17, 2017

A van hit has hit pedestrians in Barcelona, leaving at least one person dead and dozens injured.

It’s also being reported that the two suspects then entered a Turkish restaurant and took hostages.

At around 4:30pm, a white Fiat Talento drove onto the pavement of Barcelona’s Las Ramblas, crashing into pedestrians between Plaça Catalunya and Gran Teatre del Liceu.

The van was rented by Driss Oukabir, a Spanish citizen of Moroccan origin.

The driver fled as the counter-terror protocol was deployed, despite the Catalan police could not confirm the motive behind the ramming.

This shows how far the van drove in #Barcelona running people over before coming to a halt pic.twitter.com/puWPdBp2Oi
— LTH??london (@LTHlondon) August 17, 2017

First reports claimed two deaths and dozens of injured people.

Soon after, the suspect number rose to two people, one of whom was the driver, allegedly barricaded inside a restaurant armed with a rifle. EFE claimed the second suspect managed to escape and it was reported that the van was rented in the neighbouring location of Santa Perpètua de Mogoda, among with a similar van which was considered a getaway vehicle and was found by 7:00pm.

El Pais newspapers later contradicted EFE and stated that police sources claimed the two perpetrators of the crash were holed up in a bar in Tallers Street.

In the press conference held by the police at 7:00pm local time, the spokesperson confirmed the terrorist nature of the event, a dead person and 32 injured —10 of those in serious condition. Other sources are claiming the fatality count is 13.